Sunday, March 6, 2016

Gridlock with a capital "G"

It’s hard to believe that every U.S.
Representative & Senator doesn’t know the reason that there is
gridlock in Washington, DC. They also know how to fix it. They
caused it with silly rules and procedures that don’t make sense and undermine
the basic tenets of democracy and the constitution.

The filibuster rules in the Senate and the “Hastert rule” in the
House are the principal reasons that very little gets done in the
nation’s capitol. Now add gerrymandering; out of control campaign financing
(i.e. Citizens United); unrelated "riders" and you have the complete recipe for Gridlock with a
capital “G”.

And it’s sad to know that it could all be fixed in a New York
minute. All it takes is political will. But notice I haven’t said the key words
yet — Democrats, Republicans or the President — they’re all responsible to some
degree. It just depends on whose in power at the time.

They all talk about the gridlock in Washington and need to
compromise and bipartisanship; but, they know they have purposefully inserted
the mechanisms in the system that are designed to frustrate compromise and gum
up the political process envisioned by the Founders.

So as the electorate and general public grows more and more
weary of the D.C. shenanigans is it any wonder they are gravitating
toward the likes of some of the outlandish options available in the current
crop of 2016 Presidential candidates.

We’ll get into all the gory details; but this is the opening
salvo.

·General Public: The general public
needs to become more educated about these arcane practices and how they
totally undercut their choices at the ballot box to the point of making them
nearly useless.

·Interest Groups: Responsible public
interest groups need to assist in informing their members and designing
campaigns to overturn these irresponsible, perverted means to undermine
democracy.

·News Media: The media and
pundits need to help in this educational process by emphasizing at every
occasion the connections to these obstructionist tools.

·Elected Statesmen: The few responsible,
statesman-like elected officials need to work tirelessly to expose and tear
down these barriers to effective government.

·POTUS: And, finally, the
President must use the bully pulpit to speak out against these contrived
obstacles and let the public know how their will is being shutdown.